Dreaming is an essential and healthy part of life. Dreaming allows us to set goals and move in a positive direction toward a specific objective. While dreams are supposed to make us work harder, they aren’t supposed to be unattainable ideals. Occasionally, we need to let go and dream a new dream.

Here are some tips to help you determine when it’s time to let go and dream a new dream.

You’ve been working without making progress for quite awhile

When you’re not making progress on a dream, it could be an indicator that it’s time to move on. Sometimes, we try as hard as we can and things still don’t work out. That doesn’t make you a bad person, it just means that this wasn’t the right time for this dream.

You dread doing what you need to do to pursue the dream

Generally, dreams worth attaining take work. If you wake up in the morning full of anxiety or dread about doing what you need to do to make this dream come true, it’s definitely time to re-evaluate. Once in awhile, we get this great idea, and it leads to a great dream, and we jump in with both feet before we’re able to fully evaluate and understand the work that it will take to get us there. Trying to stick with it even when we dread doing the work is going to take any joy out of attaining that dream.

You’re forced to give up the dream

Sometimes life or circumstances get in the way of pursuing a dream. It could be a minor setback, or it could be a major, life changing event. Either way, it may become necessary to give up on that dream-at least for now. You can either find a dream that fits in with the life you’re living now, or shelve the original dream until you’re better able to pursue it.

The bottom line is, a dream should be something positive in your life. Pursuing the dream, reaching goals, having measurable benchmarks of success, should all bring you joy. A dream should never make you feel dread, frustration, or sadness. Having the right dream is something that inspires you, makes you feel bold and capable of conquering the world. When you’re not feeling those things, it’s time to let go.

However, letting go of a dream does not have to be seen as negative. Most of the time, when a dream is not the right one for us, or not the right one for right now, it’s actually pretty liberating to let go of that, because we no longer have the pressure to make this dream come true. If you’re a Type-A personality like I am, once you get clearly defined goals, you tend to push yourself to the point of exhaustion to make sure you make those goals. Not feeling like you have to push yourself that way is definitely freeing.

Letting go of a dream doesn’t make you a failure or a quitter. It makes you someone who is capable of self-evaluation-and that is a really important quality. In fact, being able to be honest with ourselves is something that most people refuse to do, so you’re really ahead of the game at this point! Consider the lessons that you’ve learned by setting aside this dream, and make a better educated plan for your next dream!